Transcendent Praise

Psalm 34: 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them.

There is much that has been said and written about angels and there are drawings and representations of all kinds. Some are depicted as pink-cheeked baby cherubs with wings and others as warring angels in military gear. I suppose each of us has a picture in his/her mind of what an angel looks like. I once had a vision of two angels and apart from their awesome brilliance, what struck me most was the authority they exuded. That experience left me both terrified and reassured at having had a glimpse of something heavenly. And no, they did not speak to me or I probably would not be alive to write about it. I was merely allowed to observe.

The Scriptures leave us in no doubt as to the existence and functions of angels. The Old Testament speaks often about the activities of the “angel of the Lord” as encountered by different individuals. And in the New Testament it was an angel who appeared to Zechariah to inform him he would become the father of John the Baptist, and later to the virgin Mary to explain her pregnancy. It was angels who brought the good news of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds in the field. Not only do angels exist to do God’s bidding, but in  Revelation 5:11, we get a glimpse into heaven as the voices of innumerable angels unite in worship around the throne singing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

We are all familiar with the concept of ‘guardian angels’. David, whose life was constantly threatened, wrote confidently of angelic presence, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (Psalm 34: 7). Do angels have a role in the individual lives of believers? In exalting the Son’s superiority above angels, Hebrews 1:14 pose the question: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”  What an awesome inheritance for believers that the God of heaven would care enough to undertake for our safety and send angels to minister to us. Awesome!!

Acts 27: 23 – 24  Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, “Do not be afraid Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.”

What do you do when you fall victim to a miscalculation? You or someone else made a decision based on certain assumptions and the results have either been disastrous or have fallen far short of expectations. In this kind of situation you have to recall what God has said to you directly. Do not give in to the apparent hopelessness of the situation in front of you. As believers, we are called to live by faith in God, not in our human wisdom.

Chapters 27 and 28 of the Book of Acts tell us about a part of Paul’s journey to Rome. We know his trip was in the will of God because in Acts 9:15 God had revealed his mission in very specific terms to Ananias by whose laying on of hands Paul received the Holy Spirit and the restoration of his sight: “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” The seat of power in Paul’s day was in Rome. Why then did he get caught in this tremendous storm? The miscalculation as to when to depart was not even his. The only reason Paul knew for sure that this was not his end was because of the reassurance overnight by the angel of God.

Mistakes are a normal part of life and God comes to his children in the storms because he has covenanted himself to them. He is the only One who knows the end from the beginning. Whatever he has ordained will come to pass. Paul would get to Rome, despite the delays and detours. I was meditating on the events in these two chapters in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit magnified God’s “Fear Not” to me in this way:

“Have I spoken and shall I not fulfill? My works go before me. I delight to reveal my will to my children to the end that they should walk aright and not stumble in the dark. At times I lay it all out that they may know that I am guiding and directing events, for I am the Almighty God knowing the end from the beginning. You should not worry nor struggle trying to control what shall be. Listen to my voice and I shall daily guide you to follow me.”

Ezekiel 14: 12 – 14 The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men –Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.’

Ezekiel encountered the Sovereign Lord who is declaring inescapable judgment for his people Israel and indicates that even if three men Noah, Daniel and Job were in the land, they could only save themselves. The Lord declares these three men as righteous. So I wanted to know what the common denominator was in the lives of these three men. As it turns out these were men who stood alone before God. They exhibited a quality called steadfastness. Noah was steadfast in the face of ridicule. Daniel was steadfast in the face of death and Job was steadfast in the face of extreme loss.

As war and mayhem spread around the globe today many believers are experiencing what it is to be steadfast in the face of all three – ridicule, death or extreme loss. This is the true test of faith in God. Let us pray for them constantly and for ourselves that this quality be formed in us. The Holy Spirit broke in on my meditation with the following:

“For behold standing alone before God does require steadfastness. It is that place that makes the child of God truly understand who God is. That he is able to sustain, defend and deliver his children so that onlookers can only marvel at the strength of your faith and absolute trust in God who is very much alive, present, caring and utterly trustworthy. Not only will he sustain, defend and deliver but he will reward, uplift and make you to rise to new heights and be an overcomer.”

Daniel 3: 26 – 27 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” ……….and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

The first three chapters of the Book of Daniel tell us about four young men – Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah who were among the Jews taken as captives to Babylon by the forces of King Nebuchadnezzar. Because they were of royal heritage, they were brought before the king and were to receive special treatment and training. At the same time however, they suffered the indignity of having their names changed to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Their language and diet were to be changed and they were expected to denounce their cultural heritage and their God as well. But these young men drew a line in the sand about their food and their worship and excelled in their new environment for a time because God created favor for them.

Then one day the King had a dream he could not understand and when all his advisors, astrologers and magicians failed to interpret it, he passed a death sentence on all of them. Daniel realized he and his friends could be included.  The four of them called on God and God gave Daniel the interpretation of the dream which he made known to the King. As a result the King acknowledged their God and rewarded them by elevating them to high office. Not for long. Soon the King built himself a huge image of gold and decreed that everyone in his kingdom should bow down and worship it when the signal was given.  Daniel’s three friends defied the order and were soon dragged before the King. But they refused to bow and as punishment they were thrown into a fiery furnace. Miraculously no harm came to them and the King testified that he could see them walking around in the fire and there was a fourth man with them who looked like a son of the gods. (Read Daniel 3:25 in the KJV). The end result – Nebuchadnezzar recognizes them once again as “servants of the Most High God” and learns that God can deliver his children. He breaks out in praise to God. (Daniel 3:29). He even promoted them!

What then is the value of trials in a believer’s life? I will admit that I pondered for a long time the statement:  “They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.”  The Holy Spirit eventually came to my rescue:

“When you go through the fire as children of the Most High God, you are supposed to come out unscathed, that is, there is to be no diminishment of your faith. Rather you become a living testimony of the power and grace of your God.”

Romans 8: 30 – 32 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

If you had one child who had done something that the law could not forgive and decided that he had to pay for his crime with his life, could you step forward and offer your life in his place? Could you? I would like to think that I could but I do not know for sure. What a prospect!

Yet our Heavenly Father saw our predicament when Adam sinned and left us in a situation of total separation from his love. What darkness! The standard of righteousness God requires to restore the relationship is met only by Christ Jesus. It is a standard to which we cannot rise no matter how good we try to be. We owe a debt we cannot repay by any means. So he gave up the life of his only Son to cancel our debt. God the Father is willing to pardon us and credit the righteousness of Christ to our account if we accept and believe that He died in our place on the cross. Such love! This is the gospel, the good news. Can you even begin to grasp it?

It is clear to see then why to reject the sacrifice of Christ for you would break the heart of God and bring his judgment on you. Our natural fathers require honor and obedience from us.  Anything else is disrespect. Yet a good father forgives a repentant child and allows his child to climb into his lap again or run into his arms for safety and reassurance. God your Father is always waiting for you.

“He loves us like no earthly father can. It is a covenant kind of love whereby he undertakes to look out for his children in every aspect of their lives, never to take his eyes off them, so that in Him they may have peace regardless of their circumstances. He guides, he inspires, he protects in such a way that the evil one will in no way have dominion over them.”

Genesis 50: 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them, and spoke kindly to them.

I have often given a lot of thought to the life of Joseph and see the practicality of what I call “the Joseph principle”.  It is simply this: What others mean for your ruin, God can use for his glory and your good. I recommend you grab hold of that reality. (See Genesis 50: 19 – 21).

The drama in Joseph’s life begins in Genesis 37, skips chapter 38 and goes through to Genesis 50 where his father Jacob dies. Starting in his youth, the hand of God was upon Joseph and he knew it. The earliest revelations came to him in dreams. He was hated by his brothers who sold him to strangers and he ended up being bought as a slave by Potiphar, captain of the guard to King Pharaoh in Egypt.  But he was a trusted slave and was made overseer by Potiphar whose household was blessed because God’s hand was upon Joseph. In time Joseph became victim to the lust and lying of his master’s wife. That landed him in jail where he was forgotten for a while. But then we see that he is eventually extricated, vindicated and given a place of high honor and authority by Pharaoh in the land of his captivity. In this position, so many years later, his brothers came begging him for food and mercy.

It is very hard at times for us to imagine that God is seeing the hardships we go through. Yet, as believers, we are compelled to understand that he does see and even orchestrates some of these situations that we may know him and prove his faithfulness. When he says “I will never leave you nor forsake you” he does really mean it. Beyond that, he requires us to demonstrate his kind of love and we do that best by extending grace.  Joseph eventually was in a position where he could take revenge on his brothers but instead he not only forgave them, he helped them.

“There is no grace like the grace God provides. It flows freely and frees the condemned, releasing them to thrive and fulfill their ordained purpose. It is that kind of grace that God requires his children to extend to those who have wronged them. Your duty is to encourage the fallen, lift up the weak and discouraged, enabling them to experience forgiveness and freedom as God desires.”

Genesis 5: 23-24 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

The Bible grows more fascinating to me with every reading. And every so often my attention becomes focused on how God singled out individuals for unique treatment. That means he has a different blueprint for each of our lives.

Enoch was one of those people singled out for unique treatment. The text says he lived 65 years before he became the father of Methuselah and that “Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.” (Genesis 5:22). It does not explain what his relationship to God was like for his first 65 years. What about you? What have you done with your years up to now?

For every other person named before and after Enoch, the text says they died but for Enoch it says: “then he was no more because God took him.” This was a sovereign act of God and the longer explanation and implications can be easily researched on line. What I am more focused on here is that he walked with God for 300 years. My goodness, we tend to get so weary in the process of our ‘three score and ten’ if God affords us that many years! I don’t know what Enoch’s routine was like to make sure he stayed on course, but he did. Since God is a Spirit we know his connection to God was spiritual because it enabled him to prophesy against wickedness in his day. (Jude 14-15). We also know that his was a walk of faith because he pleased God and that has earned him a place among the faith-filled named in Hebrews 11.

At this point in my meditation a mental picture from childhood came to mind. We used to run a race in primary school called a three-legged race. Two children would stand side by side and be bound together at the ankles and put their hands around each other’s waist. They would then compete with other pairs to see who could get to the finish line first. Can we see ourselves so bound to God, in communion and lockstep with his purpose for us, so that we absolutely go in the direction he wants us to go? This would also means that his strength becomes our own. Hallelujah!

Genesis 4: 13 – 14 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Cain’s lament stabs you in the heart. He was overcome by hate and jealousy and so he killed his brother Abel. When God asked him where his brother was, he lied: “I don’t know,”  “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (See Genesis 4:9). In essence he was just compounding the calamity. It is pointless to do wrong and then try to bury the evidence. God did not ask Cain what he had done because God did not know, He asked Cain to get him to confess the sin he had committed. The denial brought judgment of the worst kind – banishment from the presence of the Lord.

The need for confession and a plea for forgiveness apply equally to someone who is unsaved and to the child of God. The unsaved comes confessing that he knows that the sin nature he inherited from Adam needs to be washed away by the blood of Jesus. He then accepts that Jesus died in his place so he can be forgiven and have access to God. The child of God confesses to maintain fellowship. So child of God when you do wrong, go to God your Father and confess it in all its ugliness and ask to be forgiven. If not you will find yourself in a very dark place, cut off from fellowship with the Lord. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). When I read the account of Cain’s predicament and meditated on it, the Holy Spirit explained:

“To be absent from the presence of the Lord is the farthest you can go from the favor of Almighty God. It is the place of futility and unfruitfulness. To then work your own works and try to present them to God is a waste of time. More profitable is the coming to the cross of Christ where his blood has been shed, the blood sacrifice which satisfies God’s standard of righteousness. There you will find forgiveness and new life and a new beginning with God.”

Genesis 16: 9, 13 The angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

Are you on the run? From what and where are you going?” Never looked at your life in that way? Think for a minute. What is the reason for your restlessness? Where will you go that God is not?

Genesis 16 gives an account of a slave girl named Hagar whose circumstances were so grave she felt her only solution was to run away. She was not the only person in Scripture to try to run away to some place thinking that God would have no idea where to find them. Jonah did when he was determined not to do what God told him to do. (Jonah 1: 3). The prophet Elijah was running for his life from King Ahab’s wife and in his despair he hid in a cave, thinking he was completely alone and beyond God’s ability to find or rescue him. (1 Kings 19: 1 – 18).

In our day lots of people are on the run for various reasons. Some feel abused or misunderstood, some are entrapped by substance abuse or are ashamed of their inability to meet their obligations.  Sometimes the need is to get away from the boss, the job, the marriage, parenting, or the congregation you have faithfully served. The fact is that everyone becomes overwhelmed at some point and the instinct to flee is very strong. Whatever caused your flight, it is time for re-evaluation, self-examination and above all confession.

Hagar’s example of a true confession is instructive. When she was confronted by the angel of the Lord, she just blurted out the absolute truth “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.” Full disclosure is the only way to go with God. As you can glean from the response of the angel, the details are fully known to God, but you need to say it because the words you use might surprise you by revealing your true motivation and why you are where you are.

If you have run away, it is no news to God.  But have you talked to him about it?  You might not like the answer and it may well be a test of your obedience. Hagar was told to go back and submit to her mistress. Why? Perhaps, like Hagar, your entire purpose for being in the earth is wrapped up in your willingness to return and humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.  He does not just see you and hear you but he will undertake for your future.  Submission brings its own reward: “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.” (Genesis 16:10). As you submit, believe in the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within you. (Ephesians 4:20 refers).

Genesis 22:15 – 18 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Everyone needs blessings. Sometimes the blessing you seek is small such as a ride home at night, help to pack for a move, a few dollars to bridge a financial gap. Sometimes your need is huge – help with hospital bills, the mortgage or school fees coming due, a new car. Needs are the harsh realities of life.

The origin of blessings is spiritual in nature. They do not come as a result of labor. You can work 24 hours every day, and still be frustrated by the constant lack of life’s necessities. So our world has devised any number of schemes to supposedly help you meet these gaps – betting on races, cockfights, bullfights, competitions of various sorts and the all-time favorite golden pot of gold called the lottery.

Have I ever been drawn by any of these? I bought lottery tickets at least twice in my life and was completely traumatized by what my life might become if I won. Laugh at me if you like, I’m okay with that. But living my life in the public square is not me. The other big question that loomed for me was: Would I be able to tithe from the winnings? The answer I came up with was a resounding “No”. Think about it, if the life I am living is a life of faith and I am supposed to depend on God to meet my needs, doesn’t that mean I have to follow his methods?

In Genesis 22 Abraham is challenged by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Talk about being traumatized! But Abraham resolutely chooses to obey God. He was going to make that sacrifice, but Isaac’s life was spared immediately when Abraham demonstrated his willingness to pay the cost of obedience. In return God not only provided for his immediate need of a lamb but blessed him for the future beyond his wildest dreams. You have been called to obedience and to make sacrifices for the kingdom. As you obey, God will set in motion your stream of blessings which will bridge the gap between the result of your labor and your daily needs. The Holy Spirit confirmed this to me this way:

            “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. God will not honor pride. Until his children obey to the point of sacrifice, his blessings will not flow for it is in sacrifice that God sees the love of his children poured out. That moves his heart to bless them in ways they never imagined. The Lord God wants to fellowship with his children to the point where he can see their love poured out.”